Louis C.K.

“I hope it’s O.K. if I am at once very angry for the women he wronged and the culture that enabled it,” the comedian says in a monologue that will air Thursday night. “And also sad, because he’s my friend. But I believe with all my heart that this moment in time is essential.”

Ever since Louis C.K.admitted to sexual misconduct—specifically, masturbating in front of women without their consent—the fallout has rippled across Hollywood, particularly the comedy world. Jon Stewart and Marc Maron, both close friends of C.K., have already responded to C.K.’s admission, saying they were stunned to hear that the allegations were true. Now, Sarah Silverman, another longtime friend of the comedian, has offered her own reaction—one that carefully kept its focus on recognizing C.K.’s victims.

In a monologue that will air on Thursday’s episode of Silverman’s new talk show, I Love You, America, Silverman noted that the avalanche of sexual-misconduct revelations “has been a long time coming”—which is good. “It’s like cutting out tumors: it’s messy and it’s complicated and it is gonna hurt. But it’s necessary and we’ll all be healthier for it.”

“I wish I could sit this one out,” Silverman continued. “But then I remembered something I said on this very show: that if it’s mentionable, it’s manageable. So I’m going to address the elephant masturbating in the room . . . One of my best friends of over 25 years, Louis C.K., masturbated in front of women. He wielded his power with women in fucked up ways, sometimes to the point where they left comedy entirely.”

Silverman’s sister, Laura Silverman, has alleged on Twitter that C.K. masturbated in front of her 20 times “on a cross country trip before he was famous.” Silverman did not address her sister specifically, but she did hone in on C.K. more directly and firmly than many of her colleagues in the talk-show space.

“I could couch this with heartwarming stories of our friendship and what a great dad he is, but that’s totally irrelevant, isn’t it?” Silverman said in her monologue. “Yes, it is. It’s a real mindfuck because I love Louie, but Louie did these things. Both of those statements are true. So, I just keep asking myself, can you love someone who did bad things? Can you still love them? I can mull that over later, certainly, because the only people that matter right now are the victims. They are victims, and they’re victims because of something he did.”

Although Silverman maintains that her Hulu series is not a late-night show, it’s worth noting that no late-night comedian has addressed C.K.’s admission at length like she has. Jokes directed at C.K. so far have been short and glancing; even Samantha Bee, who devoted plenty of screen time to breaking down the scandal that surrounded Harvey Weinstein, addressed C.K. by simply folding him into a larger monologue about sexual abuse that centered more on Roy Moore and Hollywood’s historic failure to shun its own alleged abusers in any real, lasting way. Given Silverman’s lofty stature in the comedy world and the looser format of her series, she is perhaps better positioned than anyone else in the late-night and talk-show crowd to discuss these revelations—and she did so in a heartfelt, sensitive way.

“I hope it’s O.K. if I am at once very angry for the women he wronged and the culture that enabled it,” Silverman said, “and also sad, because he’s my friend. But I believe with all my heart that this moment in time is essential. It’s vital that people are held accountable for their actions, no matter who they are. We need to be better. We will be better. I can’t fucking wait to be better.”